


Begin Again

by jennfics



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, OFHAT 2018, Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon, Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 05:30:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15017687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennfics/pseuds/jennfics
Summary: Written for OFHAT 2018, week 3 prompt: Hidden.Felicity has a coffee date, potentially, and Iris West Allen is the best friend a girl could have. A coffee shop meet/cute in the making.





	Begin Again

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @thebookjumper for creating this awesome hiatus project! 
> 
> Special thanks to @sharilynn87 who talks me off that fic-writing ledge. Salt for life, etc. 
> 
> Highly suggest listening to "Begin Again" by Taylor Swift (for which this fic is named) to get in the feels mood. 
> 
> Enjoy!

**Tuesday, 1:30pm**

“It’s one coffee date, Felicity. You aren’t committing to his hand in marriage.” Ten years of friendship had Felicity pretty well attuned to Iris, whose tone was starting to lend more toward annoyed the longer their conversation continued.

So she may have spent the last 20 minutes running through every possible scenario of bad a coffee date could turn into. It’d been almost five years since her last relationship, which in all fairness had hit new and unknown levels of bad before meeting a rather fitting end. Sue her for wanting to be prepared for forced conversation, awkward silences, armed assassins, or worse - sweaters knitted entirely from cat hair.

“And don’t say ‘cat hair sweaters’ again, Felicity. That was one time.” She could practically see Iris rolling her eyes through the phone.

“Fine. Let’s suppose it all goes smoothly. We chat. It’s nice. He’s cute. The coffee is good. Then what?” Gesticulating with both hands, she walked back and forth in front of her desk.

“You’re pacing, aren’t you?” Iris sighed heavily, knowing this conversation was a long road to nowhere.

Felicity stopped, turning to look at the phone on her desk. “No, I’m just exercising. Getting in my steps or whatever.”

“Ok, listen to me. I am going back to work. I do not want to hear from you again about this for the rest of the work day at least.”

“Some best friend you are,” Felicity grumbled, placing her hands on her desk as she leaned closer to the phone.

“Damn right, I’m the best of best friends who is going to miss her deadline if I don’t get back to work. Stop pretending like I didn’t just listen to you panic about a potential coffee date, emphasis on potential as you haven’t said yes yet.”

“Fine,” with a sigh, she turned lifting herself onto the desk to sit. Dangling her legs back and forth for a few beats, she mulled over the cost of being vulnerable versus trying to manage this anxiety on her own.

“Iris?”

“Yes, Felicity?”

“I’m scared.” Score one for personal growth.

The last five years have been fruitful for Felicity Smoak. After graduating from MIT with not one, but two master’s degrees, the highly sought-after tech prodigy spent a successful and lucrative year working directly for Lucius Fox at Wayne Enterprises. Unfortunately for Lucius, Felicity wasn’t sold on Gotham or WE. Between the high crime rates and the building’s bat infestation, she’d decided to chance leaving the city to start her own company. Smoak Technologies grew quickly from a start up she ran in the living room of her condo to a Fortune 500 company, putting Starling City on the map for tech innovation thanks in large part to her biostimulant prototype.

“Of course you are, honey,” Iris cooed, her tone softened by finally coaxing the admission she’d been waiting for. “What happened with Cooper -”

“Hey!”

“Right. He Who Thieved and Got What Was Coming to Him and Shall Never Again Be Named… honestly, you need to shorten that monicker,” she paused while Felicity snorted “happened. And it changed you. How could it not?”

Iris couldn’t see Felicity nodding, silently acknowledging her insight. “But listen to me, Felicity. Just because you changed doesn’t mean it wasn’t for the better. I would never want what happened to happen again, or to have happened at all for that matter. Regardless, the dude was and is scum. You flourished as only you could. Belle Reve is exactly what he deserved - we both know it. So please, stop beating yourself up.”

“Logically, I know you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Iris quipped. “Just ask Barry.”

Felicity could only shake her head at her friend. “But what if he doesn’t like me?”

“What -”

“Before you say anything,” she interrupted, “let me get this out.”

When only silence answered, she continued. “I know that you’re going to tell me that I’m successful and a genius and kick ass.”

“And gorgeous. Generous. Wickedly funny,” Iris reminded.

“Thank you, but I wasn’t done.” Slipping off her desk to pace once again, Felicity continued. “But I’m also a little dark and twisty? Not too much, not anymore. And certainly not literally,” she flicked her blonde ponytail as though Iris could see her, knowing how her previous all-black-everything aesthetic during that college goth phase had tried her best friend’s patience. “So what if that’s off putting? What if the date goes well and there’s conversation and I like him. And then, I don’t know. I eventually have to tell him that my ex-boyfriend who I thought was the love of my life stole a super virus from me and threatened to destroy the internet - I _love_ the internet, Iris, like really? - so I turned him into the NSA and helped track him down and now he’s serving a life’s sentence with zero likelihood to ever see the sun again let alone parole.” Taking a deep breath, she added “then what? Because I feel like that’s a lot, you know?”

“I do know. I was there, remember? My dad was the one who sat with you through the briefing.”

“I miss your dad. It’s been too long since I’ve been back for a visit,” she sighed.

Turning Cooper into the NSA was the hardest decision she’s ever made. Five years have passed and she still has the occasional sleepless night, usually when she’s most stressed or over caffeinated, lying awake wondering if she couldn’t have done more, saved him maybe. But then she’ll picture his face through the two way mirror, the first and only time she’d seen him after making the report. He hadn’t denied his crime, just sneered when the agent claimed the virus was stolen. As if it wasn’t enough to try and literally destroy the internet, he continued to take credit for her work. The man cuffed to the table was so different from the boy she’d loved. He was callous, unyielding. Cooper had made her feel appreciated for her mind and intellect in a way that no one since her father had been able to, but the person he became had a dangerous frenetic energy no amount of praise or admiration could overcome.

“He misses you, too. So do Barry and I, but you’re getting off track.” Felicity nodded, still pacing, as Iris continued. “Yes, I will admit that is kind of a lot to tell someone.”

“See!” she pointed toward the phone accusingly.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying! I just don’t want to see you continue to hide yourself away. The Felicity you were before him would be so proud of the woman you are now, just like I am. You deserve to be loved in the same way that you love, Felicity, with your whole heart and by someone who will help you remember there’s strength in being vulnerable. I don’t know if coffee date guy is going to turn into anything, but I do know it _will_ hurt you not to try.”

Let it be known, Iris West Allen gives one hell of a best friend speech.

“It’s only coffee, Felicity. Plus, Sara is the one setting you up so you can rest assured he’ll at least be attractive.” Felicity couldn’t help laughing at the accuracy of that statement.

“I guess that’s true. She did say she’s known him forever and he’s a really good guy. A workaholic, like me. What are you eating?”

“Carrots and hummus. Sorry about the crunching but this conversation has drained so much of my energy I needed to refuel. Look, we know he’ll be hot. Check mark. Sara is a scarily good judge of character. If she says he’s a good guy, then you know he is. Check mark número dos. And rounding out third, at least he’s employed.”

“Ok, but she calls him ‘Ollie.’ What is he? Five?” Scrunching her nose, Felicity again gesticulated toward the phone. “I'm not calling him that for the record.”

“She said you can call him Oliver. Don’t get hung up on the details.” Iris’ crunching hit critical mass, so Felicity thought she heard her wrong.

“Excuse me. Stop for a second. Did you just say you thought I’d be more upset he’d dated Laurel?” Felicity paused, waiting. When Iris didn’t reply, her voice increased several octaves as she shouted “he dated Laurel?! What?” She jumped away from her desk, mouth open wide in disbelief as she stared at the phone.

“I thought she told you that?” Iris backpedaled. “It’s not a big deal. It was high school. Who even counts high school?”

“Um, you do. Did you or did you not meet Barry Allen, you current husband, in high school?” Still yelling, Felicity rounded on the phone moving closer to the receiver.

“Only husband, but yes that may be… accurate. But obviously he and Laurel weren’t meant to be. She’s been married to Tommy Merlyn for like, what? Two years? I doubt this Ollie guy even thinks twice about it.” Iris pointed out, attempting to be helpful.

“You do realize this just became even more of a bad idea.” Felicity picked the phone up from the hook. “I don’t know what Sara was thinking.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers from her left hand.

“She was thinking that she has two single friends who have similar things in common, are both attractive and have little to no time to date so why not set them up? You’re making this a big deal when it’s not. Stop trying to find an excuse, Smoak.” Iris had started typing, and Felicity knew she was fighting a losing battle if she’d gone back to proofing her article.

“Ok. Fine. It’s just one coffee, right? Just one cup. That’s like, an hour tops?” she attempted to reason.

“Right. You can do this. It’s just coffee,” Iris had stopped crunching long enough to sound encouraging and sincere.

“So, I guess I should take him off hold, right?”

There was a long pause, and then the phone practically imploded from the decibel level coming from the other end.  
“Felicity Meghan Smoak. Do you have that man on hold right now? Has he been on hold for the past - what? - HALF HOUR NOW?” If anyone’s loud voice could rival Felicity’s, it was Iris.

“Umm, maybe?” Felicity sat up straight in her chair. Remembering for the first time since her crisis mode call to Iris that she was not alone in the room. Glancing toward the desk where her assistant was sitting… well, glaring actually… definitely glaring and making a rather rude hand gesture toward what she could see was the blinking light on his phone. Damn her past self for thinking an open space office floor plan was a good idea.

“Get off this phone immediately and talk to that man. I cannot believe you right now.” Iris was still yelling as Felicity mouthed apologies to Gerry, who was now pointedly ignoring her.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Iris. I mean - I _did_ , obviously because I asked Gerry to hold his call. But I panicked! And then… called you?” Spinning in her chair away from her extremely disgruntled employee, she whispered in her most contrite tone knowing she wasn’t getting off that easy.

“Felicity.” Iris was not having it, clearly.

“Ok, ok. Fine. I’m letting you go now. I’ll talk to you later,” she drawled out slowly.

“And?

“And what?”

“Say yes,” she sighed. “Now goodbye. I’m done with you.”

Felicity was about to reply when she heard dial tone. Closing her mouth, she slowly turned back to face Gerry and his death glare. Although her face likely belied her fear, Gerry was unflinching as usual. Opening and then closing her mouth again quickly, she pointed toward her phone hoping he understood the signal to put the call through despite her utter lack of effective communication skills.

When the phone rang, she jumped with a squeak despite expecting it. Inching over slowly with her chair, she stared at the phone.

“Alright, Smoak. Time to woman up. You can do this,” she whispered to herself. Looking up at Gerry, he pointed an angry finger at the phone and mimed picking up the receiver. He sat back in his chair, flipping his pretend hair and smiling like a fool. She momentarily considered changing his ringtone to elephant farts or maybe mating tree frogs…

The phone rang again, and Felicity took a deep, centering breath before answering.

“Hello?” Hoping she sounded normal, she glanced quickly at Gerry who gave her a double thumbs up.

“Felicity Smoak? Hi. I’m Oliver Queen.”


End file.
